Final answer:
Cholesterol is an amphipathic molecule due to its hydrophilic polar hydroxyl head and hydrophobic cholestane structure, allowing it to stabilize and maintain cell membrane structure.
Step-by-step explanation:
Cholesterol is an essential component of biological membranes. Although it is much smaller than the typical phospholipids and glycolipids in the membrane, it is a amphipathic molecule, having both hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions.
Therefore, the correct answer to the statement is:(d) amphipathic
Like phospholipids and sphingolipids, cholesterol has amphipathic characteristics. It has a hydrophilic part, which is the -OH group known as the polar hydroxyl head, and a hydrophobic part, which is the cholestane structure.
These features allow cholesterol to interact with both the hydrophobic tails and the hydrophilic heads of membrane lipids, helping to stabilize and maintain the structure of the cell membrane.